


My Kind of Flower

by WardenRoot



Series: Shoot prompts [3]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, F/F, Fluff, based on a prompt, florist Root, there are a few more characters but they're just mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2018-07-16 01:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7246081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenRoot/pseuds/WardenRoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shaw needs a last minute gift for a party her boss is making her go to, and stumbles into Root's flower shop to get a bouquet of flowers that passive-aggressively say "fuck you"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this post](http://wardenroot.tumblr.com/post/146029412482/flower-shop-au):  
> Person A owns a flower shop and person B comes storming in one day, slaps 20 bucks on the counter and says “How do I passive-aggressively say fuck you in flower?”
> 
> Disclaimer: I know nothing of flowers, what I use in this I found on the prompt post and on google
> 
> A big thank you to [perkyinterface](http://perkyinterface.tumblr.com/) for reading through it and helping me with the title

Root sighed as her last customer left the shop. It was an old lady who couldn’t decide between red and white roses for her wife for their one year wedding anniversary. She was sweet, and Root did appreciate a fairytale ending, but listening to an old lady’s long tales was not on Root’s list of fun things to do, and of course the old lady had told her the entire story of how she had met her love when she was eighteen, and last year they could finally get married. It was very long, and in the end Root had convinced her to just buy a bouquet of both red and white roses, meaning unity. Root thought it would be fitting for their long relationship and anniversary, thankfully the old woman had agreed and quickly been on her way. She was just about to start closing the shop when a woman stormed in and slapped a twenty dollar bill on the counter.

“How do I passive-aggressively say fuck you in flower?”

Root’s lips quirked up in an amused smile as she looked the woman over. Her hair looked to have been in a tight ponytail once upon a time, but now had loose strays clinging to the woman’s face. Her black T-shirt was crumpled at the waist and  her shoes were wet, probably from puddles, and the woman was slightly out of breath, meaning wherever the woman had come from, she had been in a hurry to get to Root’s shop before it closed.

“I’m sorry, what?” Root asked, still an amused smile on her lips. The woman rolled her eyes.

“How. Do. I. Passive-aggressively. Say. Fuck you, In. Flower?” she repeated, this time clearly pronouncing every word, her voice filled with annoyance. _This could be fun,_ Root thought.

“That’s an unusual request, I’ll have to think how to best put it together.”

“How long are we talking?”

“I don’t know, we’ll want to make sure your message comes clearly across to this person.” The woman just huffed in response, leaning against the counter.

Despite the unusual request, Root knew exactly what flowers she would use (she may or may not have sent one to Martine, the owner of a rival flower shop, just last week), but the woman intrigued her, and she wondered how long she could keep her there, in her shop late in the evening. Root usually closed up as soon as she got the chance, went home, maybe she hacked Martine’s website or laptop, maybe she relaxed with a movie and something to drink, and a last minute customer would have annoyed the hell out of her, but tonight she found she wanted to stay just a little longer. She found some paper and a pen, acting as though she was contemplating which flowers to put together. There was a chair right next to the small counter, just close enough to the backside of the counter for it to be considered rude for a customer to sit there. After about five minutes of watching Root think, the woman sat down with a sigh, hoping she could go home soon, but this was what she got for waiting until the last minute.

After a little while, Root broke the silence.

“Root.” The woman looked at her with a frown.

“My name, it’s Root.”

The woman looked at her for a few moments, before sighing. “Shaw.”

“Shaw,” Root tried it out a couple of times, she liked it.

“So who’s this for? A boss, a lover, a parent?” The woman, Shaw, looked at her with annoyance. Root figured she probably wasn’t that into talking, so Root was definitely going to try and get her to talk. She left her place at the counter to get started on the bouquet, it would be a shame if Shaw decided to leave because Root was using too much time.

“Not my boss, though he sure could use one. Finch wants us all to go to a party to a rival company, said I had to act nice and bring a gift.” Root smiled at that, hidden away behind her flowers. It was obvious that Shaw wasn’t happy about going to a party, and that she didn’t like this other company. After composing herself, she went back to the counter with a few meadowsweets in hand.

“Uselessness,” she smirked at Shaw, referring to the flowers. Shaw’s lips barely quirked up before she composed herself again, but not before Root noticed.

“So, you work for a company?” Shaw glared at her, back to her annoyed self. “It’s only fair that you tell me, after all, you already know where I work.” Shaw scoffed, of course she knew where she worked, she was buying flowers from her. But, maybe if she indulged this woman, she might speed up her work so Shaw could get home and get some sleep before she had to get up for the party.

“I work for the The Machine, we’ve had a rivalry with Samaritan for as long as either of us can remember, and their boss, Greer,” Shaw said the name with a hint of resent. “is hosting a party to help bond or some bullshit.”

“And in the spirit of friendship, you’re telling him to fuck himself.”

Root couldn’t help but admire her, Shaw didn’t strike her as the “plan your revenge” kind of person, more “take your revenge in the moment”, and while flowers usually took planning, it would explain why she had ran into Root’s shop literally at the last minute. Root, on the other hand, liked to plan things out, cause as much destruction as possible, or at least clearly get her point across, without any rush or harm to herself. She gave Shaw a once over, she wondered what it would be like to be with a destructive force as her, how different they would be and how they would accommodate each other. She  was brought out of her fantasies when Shaw rose from the chair.

“You listening? Is there coffee around here anywhere?” Root blinked, quickly composing herself.

“I don’t have any, there’s a coffee shop right around the corner that’s open through the night, though.”

“And you’ll be here when I get back?”

“Who knows, maybe I’ll even have finished by the time you come back?” Shaw scoffed at that, she doubted Root would be finished if she took a run around the block before coming back.

* * *

 

Root figured she might as well find a couple more flowers before Shaw came back, and added some geraniums for stupidity (she thought Shaw might appreciate that one) and foxglove for insincerity. A few minutes later, Shaw came back with two coffees, putting one of them down next to Root. Root gave her an adoring look before hiding behind her coffee. There were two more types of flowers Root wanted to add, but it would be a shame to send Shaw on her way when she’d just gotten back with coffee, so instead she tried to get her to talk some more.

“So why do you have to go to this party, can’t you just tell your boss no?”

“Oh, I tried, I even offered to work overtime with no extra pay for the next two months, but Harold thought it would be good for me, refine my social skills or some other bullshit. At least he’s making John go too, he’s about the only person who might suffer as much as me.”

“And how’d this rivalry start?”

“Harold created some software for finding people, we take cases where we help people, some high end clients who pay us, some who can’t afford it so we help ‘em free of charge, that’s usually where I come in. Samaritan’s in a bit of the same business, they only take paying customers though, the people they find important, but something about Harold’s tech stuff is better than theirs and Greer’s been trying to get his hands on it for years, after their main developer quit. To be honest, Samaritan is a bunch of A-grade assholes, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why Harold thinks this is a good idea.”

Root stood listening intently to Shaw, catching every expression, however tiny, she’d make, flowers all but forgotten. They talked until they’d finished their coffees, well, Root talked for the most part, Shaw listened and sometimes gave remarks, or answered Root’s questions. Root yawned, and looked over at the clock on her counter. _1 am._ They’d been there for 3 hours. She saw Shaw look at the clock as well, and suddenly her demeanor changed from calm, slightly relaxed, to impatient and maybe tiredness? Root couldn’t quite tell, Shaw was a hard woman to read. But, she guessed it was time to close up, so she got the last bit of the bouquet done (yellow carnations for disappointment and orange lilies for hatred). When she handed it to Shaw, she let her fingers rest against Shaw’s wrist for a few seconds before Shaw pulled it back and with a quick “Thanks”, Shaw left the shop, Root giving her ass an appreciative glance on the way out. Root sighed before checking her calendar for the next day. She thought Samaritan sounded familiar, and there it was, she was supposed to deliver flowers for the party and stick around to make sure the flowers were presentable. She smiled, maybe she’d get to see Shaw again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, thanks for the feedback, I really didn't expect so many people to like it! Also, if you haven't read anything by me before, I can be a slow writer, so sorry for the wait :p  
> I hope you guys like this chapter as much as the last one!
> 
> Disclaimer: I have nothing against british accents, I'm actually quite fond of them, but for the purpose of this story, when you have a character with a british accent they just somehow become extra pompeus

Root put the finishing touches on the flowers for the party just about half an hour before the party was set to start. She was surprised by the amount of staff Samaritan had to help with the party, either Samaritan had way more employees than normal, or Greer was the sort of man who wanted everything he could get his hands on. Based on how Shaw had spoken of him the day before, Root leaned more towards the latter. There were only a few employees besides the party staff present, but it was enough that Root hadn’t spoken directly with Greer yet, only with the man who appeared to be his right hand man, Jeremy Lambert. Root wasn’t particularly fond of him, and quickly started doubting she’d ever accept another job from Samaritan. It wasn’t like her business needed their money, it was going quite well on its own. But, never one not to finish something she’d started (and maybe a little because of fact that she might see Shaw again), Root would stay and finish the party.

She took a second to breathe and just look around the room. Most of the flowers she’d brought were white, like just about everything else in Samaritan’s building. Root didn’t much care for the color, and she herself was a big contrast to the whiteness of the room with her black jeans, dark blue sweater and black leather jacket. She saw the man she assumed to be Greer and a woman with brown hair step into the room. It was the brown hair that caught her attention, Greer himself fitted the rest of the room; apart from his black suit, everything about him matched the whiteness, even his hair. The brunette woman beside him didn’t look out of place, so to speak, but Root used to know her with blonde hair, which would’ve fitted the room more nicely. She thought Samaritan parties were usually reserved for Martine, but if she had become a bigger part of the company that would explain why they had needed a new florist. Judging by the expression on Martine’s face when she saw Root, she had not been told who would be getting her old job. Root smirked and gave Martine a little wave. Another reason for Root to stay and finish the party.

When the doors to the room were swung open and a mass of people started walking in, Root turned her attention away from the Samaritan staff and employees (she refused to think of herself as part of that staff, she was only there for one party after all) and onto one specific person. Much like Root, Shaw’s clothing was in stark contrast to the white room surrounding them. She sported a black dress that gave a generous view of her cleavage, hugging her body tightly until it ended mid thigh, giving Root a generous view of her legs as well. _And those arms._ A small black purse was hanging from one of her shoulders, and in the opposite hand she held a familiar bouquet. She didn’t notice Root just yet, too busy looking for their host for the evening. She quickly spotted him and made her way towards him, Martine still at his side. Greer gracefully accepted the bouquet and Shaw left with a tiny smug smirk on her lips. Martine threw one look at the flowers and her glare immediately found Root, recognizing the bouquet she’d gotten just last week. Root gave her one last smirk before turning her attention away again, searching for Shaw, but she’d disappeared while Root’s attention has been on Martine, and the room had too many people for it to be easy to find anyone. What she did notice, whilst throwing her eyes around the room, was that if one were to separate the Samaritan employees and the Machine employees, one side of the room would be very white, and the other very black. And Root was a sucker for black. Obviously down on her luck with Shaw, Root started a round of checking on the flowers.

* * *

 

Root was unsurprised as she saw Martine making her way to the bathroom sinks, choosing the spot right next to Root as she started fixing her make up.

“Cute stunt you and your little girlfriend pulled. Is the Machine that envious of Samaritan?” Root looked at Martine, confusion written on her face. She wasn’t part of the Machine and she sure as hell didn’t have a girlfriend. Then it dawned on her; the flowers. Her trademark smirk found its way to her lips as she spoke without sparing Martine a glance.

“I thought it might liven up the place, bring some color.” Martine snorted, but didn’t get out another word before Root started leaving, stopping at the door. “Oh, and by the way, I liked you better as a blonde.”

* * *

 

Shaw tried to follow the conversation, she really did, but everything was just so boring, Samaritan hadn’t even bothered to acquire whiskey for the party, just some ridiculously expensive champagne. She cursed Harold more and more by the second for making her go to the stupid party, Samaritan’s employees were a bunch of snobby “better-than-thou” assholes, and it was a miracle she hadn’t even threatened to break one finger yet. Though, she was pretty certain that was going to change soon. She looked across the room and spotted John next to Zoe, at least he looked as out of place as Shaw felt, but of course he was held firmly in line by Zoe. A little ways off she spotted Carter and Fusco, the two sticking together as the unlikely partners they were. They had had a rough start, but after being partners at the Machine for a while, the two always had each other's backs. She let her gaze wander more, the people were more interesting than the conversation she found herself in, though not by much, and she had no hope to rejoin whatever it was her companions were discussing. Lost in her own boredom, her mind almost didn’t register it when her eyes glanced over a leather jacket and chestnut brown hair. Almost. She quickly, and maybe not so politely, excused herself from the conversation, making her way over to a table filled with flowers, the space in front of it occupied by another.

* * *

 

“Root? What the hell are you doing here?” Root turned towards the voice, innocent smile in place.

“I’m working, sweetie.” Root leant back against the table she had been facing a few seconds ago.

“What, you just happen to be working at the same party I’m attending the day after we met?”

“Well, yes. I was as surprised as you when I saw, Sameen.” The moment Root mentioned her name, Shaw’s eyes fixed straight at Root’s own.

“How the hell do you know that name?”

“I can’t reveal all my secrets now, can I?” After Shaw just glared at her for a minute, Root sighed. “I saw it on the guest list, relax.” Which wasn’t totally a lie, Root had seen the guest list, after maybe hacking Samaritan, although there was also a possibility that she had found Shaw’s name while maybe actively looking for it by hacking the Machine. You know, just friday evening boredom.

“So, what, you work for Samaritan?” Root gave her a look as if to say “that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard”, before remembering the fact that technically, for the remainder of the evening, she was in fact working for Samaritan.

“It would appear I am, before my carriage turns back into a pumpkin, at least.” Shaw rolled her eyes and started walking away.

“Whatever, just stick to your flowers,” she said before starting a new mission looking for something specific. She was sure someone like Greer had to have a stash of whiskey somewhere, and if she was going to not only deal with Samaritan, but also Root for the rest for the evening, she definitely needed something stronger than champagne. She just barely heard Root’s “but I’d much rather stick to you” before getting lost in the sea of people.

 

* * *

 

“Hello, darling.” Root took a deep breath before facing the owner of the British voice. She had done an apt job of avoiding him since the party started, having had more than enough of him when she was preparing the party.

“Lambert,” she said cooly, wanting nothing more than for him to leave.

“The flowers are gorgeous, just like you, darling. Why don’t you leave them for a few minutes, have a dance with me?” As if the british accent didn’t make him sound pompeous enough, the “better-than-thou” tone certainly sent a wave of disgust through Root.

“You’re paying me to take care of the flowers, not to dance the night away.”

“What if I pay you a little more for just one dance?” As if his presence wasn’t enough, Lambert put a hand on Root’s arm, starting to tug her towards him. She immediately took a step back, shrugging him off. As she was going through possible ways to make him go away without drawing attention, she felt an arm snake around her waist.

“There a problem?”

Lambert blinked as if that would make the new addition go away. Root entertained the idea of doing the same, never having believed she’d end up in Shaw’s arms before the end of the night.

“No problem, I was just asking the lady for a dance.” He looked expectantly at Root.

Shaw turned to look at Root fully, arm still around her waist, no longer acknowledging Lambert’s existence.

“Whaddya say, Root, do you wanna dance?”

“I’ve never been one to say no to a pretty lady.” Shaw rolled her eyes but set her glass down at a table, pulling Root with her onto the dance floor, leaving a confused Lambert behind. Root couldn’t help the fond smile finding its way onto her lips.


	3. Chapter 3

Root leaned on the shop’s counter, taking a break from work, head in one of her hands as she thought back to the party, a smile on her lips. When Shaw came to whisk her away from Lambert, she was _this_ close to pinching herself, convinced it was a dream. The dance itself did nothing to disprove that theory. Shaw had led the dance from the first moment, Root following her lead. Shaw’s hand had been firm at Root’s waist, pressing their bodies against each other, the other firmly held Root’s hand. Root hadn’t looked away from Shaw’s face for a second, didn’t even remember the last time she blinked, too starstruck by what was happening, astounded her feet were even working. Shaw’s face was like most times; unreadable, though Root had gathered that to read Sameen Shaw, one had to pay close attention. So, through the entirety of the dance, whilst trying to make her body work like a functioning one, she tried to read whatever tells Shaw gave away. For most of the dance, Shaw looked anywhere but at Root, and she never uttered a word (Root would know, she payed close attention to those lips), but she looked at Root a couple of times, and Root could swear Shaw glanced at her lips at least once. Root wanted nothing more than to get inside her head, find out what made that beautiful brain tick, but as the dance came to an end, she settled for leaning down to place a quick kiss on Shaw’s cheek, whispering a quick “thanks for the dance” before turning around and leaving, briefly catching sight of a horrified Lambert, Martine looking at Root with a look half full of surprise, but which also conveyed “I told you so” and Shaw’s coworkers staring at them in disbelief. Suddenly a little self-conscious, Root had hurried out of the building, her part of the party finally over. Though, one specific part, she wished had never ended.

* * *

 

Root blinked her way out of the memory when she recognized an annoyed brunette, wet from the heavy rain outside, knocking on the locked door of Root’s shop. It was the first Root had seen of Shaw in five days, and she hurried over to unlock the door. Shaw had barely made it inside before opening her mouth to speak, dangling a brown bag in front of Root’s face, two coffees in her other hand.

“You busy?”

“Sam, if you wanted to eat out, all you had to do was ask,” Root said, looking at Shaw like whatever the bag contained definitely wasn’t the thing she wanted to eat. Shaw rolled her eyes and shook her head a little.

“That’s _not_ why I’m here.” Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Shaw continued. “It’s a bribe. I need a place to hide from my coworkers, and this is the only place they wouldn’t think to look.”

“Anything for my saviour,” Root grinned, thrilled at the prospect of spending more time with Shaw. She had missed her ever since the party, which was not a familiar feeling to Root.

“Saviour?”

“The party. You saved me from having to dance with Lambert. I have to say, you were a lot more fun.” Shaw rolled her eyes again, but sat down in the chair she’d claimed the first day she met Root and took out a sandwich from the brown bag before placing the bag on the counter. Root found a sandwich in it for herself, and carefully unwrapped it, opposed to Shaw who ripped through the paper and started eating like her life depended on it. Root was mesmerized.

“So, what have your coworkers done to bring me the _pleasure_ of your company? Maybe I should send them a bouquet as thanks.” Shaw found herself rolling her eyes once more at the way Root said the word ‘pleasure’. _Did everything coming out of her mouth have to be an innuendo?_ As she wondered whether or not she would tell Root the truth, she also wondered if she should have come here at all.

“Ever since our dance, it’s like they think I’ve gone soft or something. I was _this_ close to decking Fusco, but I don’t think Harold would have liked that very much, so I went out.”

“And they won’t need you back at the office?”

“It was a slow day, if not I would’ve been too occupied to care what they said. Besides, if they really need me, Harold has an annoying habit of tracking our phones.”

“So I take it you don’t dance with every damsel in distress you come across?”

“I was bored and intervening is kind of part of my job.”

“Maybe I should put myself in more… _dangerous_ dance situations, so you can come to my rescue again.”

“I don’t even know why I came here, your company is almost worse than Reese’s.”

“Well, I’m sure we can think of something much more enjoyable to do, if you’re bored.”

Shaw closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair, it was obvious that this was going to be a long day. She was considering going out into the rain again, just having begun to dry off from the last time she was out, when she heard _paws?_ walking on the floor.

“Bear!” Root called out just as Shaw felt something wet on her hand. She opened her eyes and looked down at the guilty animal. Instead of pulling back and shooing the dog away as Root assumed Shaw would do, she leant forward and started scratching his head, a small smile playing at her lips.

“Hey handsome,” she said to Bear, before briefly looking at Root. “You have a dog?”

“Kind of.” At Shaw’s questioning glance, Root continued. “I share him with my rommate, Daizo. He’s usually with Daizo at work, often gone for days at a time, but this time, Daizo couldn’t bring him, so he’s all mine. He’s supposed to hang out in the back when I’m working, but I guess he heard I had a guest and wanted to say hi.” Root said the last part with a quick glance at the half open door to the backroom, she was pretty certain it had been closed before Shaw came.

 

They had been talking for a good while when Bear started whining, before he ran in to the backroom and emerged with an empty food bowl in his mouth. Shaw looked at Root.

“When was the last time you fed him?”

“I put food in his bowl when I came in this morning…”

“You haven’t fed him since morning? What kind of dog owner are you?”

“Daizo’s the one who’s supposed to take care of that, I just take him on the occasional walk and pet him when he’s in the mood.” Shaw rolled her eyes, looking down at the dog.

“Let’s go get you some food, big guy.”

“It’s in the back,” Root said, walking towards it, Shaw and Bear following close behind her. The backroom was filled with flowers that didn’t fit in the shop’s customer area, but one corner had been cleared and a dog bed, food bowl and some toys now occupied the space. Shaw and Bear went past Root, Bear put the bowl back down while Shaw located his food bag.

“Fill some new water in his water bowl?” Shaw asked with a nod towards the bowl. Root complied, quickly emptying and rinsing it before filling it with water. They were done with their bowls at about the same time, and as Root rose after putting down the water bowl, she found herself _very_ close to Shaw. For a second, none of them did anything, just stared at each other, before Root’s gaze fell to Shaw’s lips, and Shaw’s gaze soon did the same. Root lifted a hand to Shaw’s cheek, and Shaw considered pulling away, but found herself trapped between Root and the wall. As Root’s face inched just a little closer to Shaw, her eyes came up to Shaw’s own, searching them. _Fuck it_ , Shaw thought, before reaching for Root’s neck and pulling her down the rest of the way, pressing their lips together. Root froze, surprised Shaw actually closed the distance, but quickly pressed back, pulling Shaw against her while she made her own feet walk backwards, away from the wall. They faintly heard Bear rush to his food bowl, immediately throwing himself at his food. Had Root been paying attention, she would have noticed a likeness between the way Bear ate and the way Shaw ate, but her mind was otherwise occupied. Just before her legs hit the table at the opposite end of the room from Bear, Root turned them around and pushed Shaw down on the table. Shaw idly felt a stinging in her butt, and assumed it was from the roses she’d spotted earlier, but she was too preoccupied with pulling Root on top of her and running her hands down Root’s back to do anything about it. Besides, it wasn’t as if she minded the sting. She felt Root claw at her jacket, trying to get it off, but just as she was about to help Root with it, they heard the sound of the shop’s door opening. Root looked apologetically down on Shaw.

“Customer, we forgot to lock the door,” she sighed. Shaw was about to pull Root down to her again, sure the customer would leave when no one showed up, but then heard a familiar voice call out.

“Hello?”

“Fuck,” was all Shaw said, leaving Root with a questioning look directed at her.

“It’s Harold, my boss.”

“Oh,” was all Root said, before standing up fully and fixing her shirt and jacket.

“Coming,” she called, checking herself for flower petals before walking through the door. “What can I help you with?”

“Flowers. I was hoping to buy a bouquet for my fiance- Oh, Ms Groves? From the party last week?”

“Yes, you’re Harold, Shaw’s boss.” Harold nodded in reply, extending his hand to Root. The two had met briefly at the party.

“So, what kind of flowers does your fiancèe like?”

The bouquet Root made was probably the quickest one she’d made in her entire career, not that it didn’t look incredible. She told Harold the bouquet was on the house, before locking the door and walking back into the backroom, finding it empty except for Bear, who just stared happily at her, having finished his food. Despite having expected it, Root still felt disappointed at Shaw’s sudden escape, the only sign she’d even been there was the ruined flowers on top of the table, and Bear’s satiated belly. She sat down next to Bear, who happily rolled onto his back, as Root rubbed his belly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shaw spends some quality time with Bear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, I'm not dead
> 
> I am really sorry for not updating for so long, especially with the cliffhanger I left it on, uni stress just caught up with me and kind of never gave me a break, unfortunately that is still very much the case but I hope to be able to write more soon
> 
> If you're still reading after all this time, thank you, I really do appreciate it, and I hope this chapter is enjoyable, I'm a little rusty all things considered

Shaw held her hand close to her gun as Lionel told her to get ready through the comm in her ear. They had tracked down a client’s son and found the reason for his sudden disappearance to include a bit more violence than would be assumed from his everyday life. He had fallen in with the wrong people and owed them big time, and as he couldn’t pay the people he did their dirty work instead. Shaw’s gun was now raised, ready to take aim as soon as the missing person and his abductor came into view, but before she could see them she heard a bark and someone falling to the ground. Turning the corner she saw a familiar Belgian Malinois growling on top of the abductor in question, a wound bleeding on their arm. The abductee was lying scared on the ground and Lionel caught up with them just in time for Shaw to zip tie the abductor and give Bear most of her attention.

“Good boy,” she cooed at the dog, and Lionel questioned for a moment if he had been drugged, seeing his partner be as close to mushy as he had ever seen her.

“What’re you doing so far from home?” Shaw asked while scratching his neck. She just got an enthusiastic _woof_ as response.

“You gonna help me clean this mess up or are you too busy with the 150-pound killing machine over there.” He got an eyeroll in response, but Shaw got up, Bear following close behind her, and sent a message to their cop contact about the gift wrapped abductor while Lionel got the abductee to come with them to the car, after all their mission wasn’t done until they’d returned the missing person to whoever was looking for them, in this case a worried mother. Shaw whistled and pointed to the backseat for Bear to go in, their abductee following soon after, but eyeing the dog the whole trip, while Shaw drove and Lionel sat in the passenger seat.

“So who does our new member belong to? Never seen you with a dog before.” Lionel said, pointing back at Bear. “He’s not the reason you’ve been so extra grumpy lately, is he?”

“None of your business, Lionel. Besides, Bear here just caught our bad guy, I’d say he deserves a treat.” At hearing the word ‘treat’ Bear’s ears perked up and he let out another enthusiastic _woof_. The drive back to their ‘office’ building didn’t take too long, and as they pulled up Shaw just ordered Lionel to take the recovered son back to his mother as she took Bear with her to get him his treat. Bear followed her happily despite not having a leash on. Shaw wondered what had made Bear run away, and what had made him track her down, but she figured she could find that out after their day of fun. It wasn’t too long a walk before they came upon the local pet shop, and Shaw bought Bear some treats along with a couple of new things. She opened the bag of treats right outside the pet shop and gave a few to Bear, scratching his head as he ate happily. There was a park nearby that she took him to and recovered one of the new items she’d bought from the pet shop bag she’d exited the store with, a ball that she started playing with with Bear. It had been a week since she’d last seen Root, some might say she’d been avoiding her but Shaw would silence anyone who dared speak up. However, no Root for a week by extension meant no Bear for a week, and seeing Bear was one of the few highlights of her day, which is why she spent as long as she could running around with Bear in the park. It was only a matter of time however until she would have to make sure Bear got home, after all she wasn’t his owner. As the sky started to darken she finally told Bear to follow her and they made their way first to get two to go cups of coffee and then to a certain flower shop just as Root was about to close up for the evening. Root smiled as she spotted them and Shaw almost turned around, it was close enough for Bear to run the extra metres by himself after all. But she continued walking up to the familiar flower shop that she'd avoided for the last week.

“I was wondering were you’d gone off to.” Root said as she scratched Bear, the dog happily accepting the attention. “Seems you brought home a friend, and some new toys.” as she finished her sentence Root’s hand found a new spiky collar and she cocked an eyebrow at Shaw.

“Thought it was more his style.” she shrugged as she pulled out the last item in her bag, a big dog bone for Bear to gnaw at, tossing it at the floor. Bear started biting it immediately. Shaw put the coffees on the counter before jumping up on it herself, sitting at the edge and sipping her coffee that was just a little too hot. Root’s eyes landed on shaw’s lips when she brought the cup up to them, before falling to her throat as she swallowed the drink.

“You know, I’m sure we could find better ways to use that mouth.” Shaw rolled her eyes, she hadn’t even been there for five minutes before Root started her usual banter. Right when she put down her cup, about to open her mouth to say something, Root was suddenly between her legs, one hand behind Shaw’s neck, pulling her closer. She hesitated when their lips were merely an inch apart, Shaw had run out on her the last time after all, and the last thing Root wanted to do was push her. Unless Shaw wanted her to push her of course, but that was another matter.

“We were so rudely interrupted the last time I saw you, what do you say we pick up where we left off?” Shaw could feel Root’s breath on her lips as Root spoke, and it didn’t take much for Shaw’s lips to find Root’s, her hands going behind Root’s waist to pull her even closer. This time there were no bosses or other customers to interrupt them, Bear had gone to sleep in another room and Root made sure to lock all the doors just in case before she lead Shaw to her bedroom in the apartment above the shop.


End file.
